


Your Hand, Against the Glass

by This_Time_I_Wont_Regret_My_Username



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dark Character, Immortality, MerMay, Slytherin Common Room, Slytherin Politics, Staring, The Great Lake | The Black Lake (Harry Potter), Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:06:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23975722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/This_Time_I_Wont_Regret_My_Username/pseuds/This_Time_I_Wont_Regret_My_Username
Summary: Tom sits in his chair in the common room every night. He studies, eavesdrops, and waits for the mermaid that's infatuated with him to press its hand against the glass.Sometimes, Tom does it too.
Kudos: 12





	Your Hand, Against the Glass

Tom sits in the armchair by the window, eyes on his book, but most of his attention is on watching the common room out of the corner of his eye. The position of the chair in the room allows him to see what most everyone is doing and, if he casts the right spells, he can hear what’s happening as well.

Since third year, this armchair has been his, and his alone. Everyone knows why he sits there, but it’s not something that people talk about in the common room anymore. They don’t challenge his position, either. This is the way it works.

Deciding that nothing noteworthy is happening with the other Slytherins, he turns his full attention on the corner of his book. Some time later, he catches movement in the Black Lake just out of the corner of his eye. Looking up calmly, he finds a mermaid staring back at him. He knows this mermaid. In fact, he’s very familiar with this mermaid. Every night for the past two years, it’s come to the window and watched Tom study. Sometimes, it presses its webbed hand against the glass expectantly.

It took Tom an embarrassingly long time to understand why this happens. Still, he had eventually understood, and the delay had not been a problem.

Now, Tom will occasionally press his hand against the glass in response. This, Tom knows, is why the mermaid returns every night. There is no doubt in his mind that, when he graduates from Hogwarts, the mermaid will continue to return to the window in the hope of seeing him again.

Tom sets aside his book and stands, letting his fingers briefly touch the cold glass where the mermaid’s hand is. He doesn’t miss the way its body practically vibrates in joy. At this, Tom even gives it a small smile that immediately falls off his face when he turns away.

This is not Tom’s first lesson in the way the world works, and it is not his last, but it is perhaps one of the most useful. Get someone’s attention, then return it to establish that connection, make them come back for more, and eventually they will forget the way the world was before he was in it.

Thoughts of the mermaid leave his mind as he picks up his book again, but a deep part of him rejoices in the thought that it will be sad when he’s gone. Chances are, Tom will outlive it, and the warmth that bursts inside of him is unable to be contained.

Tom smiles, small but genuine, as he turns the page of his book.


End file.
